*Friendly owner. The owner was very nice to let me play there on a day when the course wasn't even open. He was very friendly, and he also drove over from his business and talked for a while. I can tell that he really cares about the course.
*Scenery- the course plays near a small fishing lake. There are views of the lake, nice trees, a stream, nice woods.
*Water- I love water holes, so I always hope that courses next to lakes will have the water in play on many holes. That's not really the case here because they use the lake for fishing, but there is some water in play. There's a nice little stream on hole 1, and you drive over a finger of the lake on 9. You can see the lake on 7 & 8.
*2 sets of tees for different skill levels.
*Fairways- overall the fairways are nicely shaped. 6 Straight/ 2 Left/ 1 S curve, but no dogleg right. Straight holes predominate, but 3 of those are open field holes anyway.
*Elevation changes on most holes, but most are moderate. 2 Flat/ 5 Up/ 2 Down
*Terrain is well balanced with 3 Woods holes, 3 Open field, and 3 Mixed. Holes 4-6 are open field holes that don't really float my boat, but they do give you a chance to let the disc fly.
*Pro shop- they sell discs and snacks, and I think they loan floater discs too.
*Navigation- small arrows guide you, so that it's easy to find your way around. Nice touch.

-Baskets: Discatcher Sports aren't my favorite, but they catch OK. I realize that there are financial restraints on a private course, though.
-Tee Signs: very minimal. Just laminated paper with the length and par.
-Tees: natural, and the fronts weren't marked, but they still work OK.
-Safety: tee 8 is only about 20 ft past basket 7.

Long tees Course Level: Blue (most suited for Advanced players rated 950)

~Hole 9 has a basket position on a small peninsula on the lake. The looks really cool, but the day I played there it was in the more pedestrian field position.
~From the long tees the holes are all long, so you need a big arm to score well. 7 of 300-399 plus a 405 and a 480 footer.
~Practice basket. There is a practice basket up by the Pro shop, but so you'd have to get your putts in before heading down to the first tee. The Pro shop is several hundred yards from the 1st tee.
~There's no course map. A map often comes in handy, but again this is a rather new and private course.
~Tornado damage. At some point in the past a tornado ripped up lots of trees so there was damage to the property and there are still some trees that needed to be cut up. None of it affects any of the holes, though.

Overall, there are some nice holes out there, especially the 1st hole, but since it's only 9 holes it doesn't attract me back as much as an 18 holer would. If you happen to be driving by the area it would probably be worth stopping in for a quick round (if you don't mind paying the $5 greens fee). After seeing the owner's passion for the course, I think Maples Lake will only continue to get better and better over time.

<span class="underline">A note about my rating:</span> My rating is a subjective measure of my enjoyment of the course, on the day I played it, and it is NOT intended to be a measure of the quality of the course. My ratings are given "on the curve" in relation to all other courses I've played.

~My more detailed "Overall Rating" notes and "Hole-by-hole Ratings" are available in the Files section.